Author(s): Marcus Luttrell

Military

In June 2005 four US Navy SEALs left their base in Afghanistan for the Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less than twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs was alive. This is the story of team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, but it is also the story of his team who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left, blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him off, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe who risked everything to protect him from the circling Taliban killers.